…as VC debunks claim of opposing staff applications to join SSANU
Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti
The management of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State, has debunked claims that it is opposing the applications of members of Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) to join Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and obstructing the deduction of the said new members’ dues from their salary, describing the claims as baseless and inflammatory.
This was made known yesterday by the Vice Chancellor of FUOYE, Professor Abayomi Fasina, who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Professor Tajudeen Bolanle Opoola during a press conference in Ado-Ekiti.
Fasina said that the SSANU Chairman of Ekiti State University, Mr. Temidayo Azeez Aguda, in a radio programme alleged that the “VC created obstacles by insisting that approval must be sought from Management before a staff could join a union of his or her choice, despite the fact that some staff members had expressed interest in joining SSANU and filling forms to that effect; that security agents threatened the SSANU Branch Chairman of FUOYE on the instruction of the vice chancellor; that the National President of SSANU and the Vice President (Western Zone) had instructed National Executive members of Ekiti and Ondo State to immediately occupy FUOYE, and that the VC may disrupt the peace in Ekiti land.”
The deputy vice chancellor described the claims as “inaccurate, baseless, and inflammatory.”
While speaking on the approval of staff to join the SSANU, he said that the process of membership forms of the new members of SSANU must follow due process.
“Membership is free and the institution cannot compel members to join the union, neither can SSANU compel non-members to follow their instructions,” adding that the letter SSANU claimed they wrote seeking the deduction of due from the said new members did not specifically contain call for deduction of due; it is a breakdown in communication.
Also, he noted that the SSANU’s chairman was not harassed by security officers under the order of the vice chancellor who was not in Ekiti State on Monday, March 18, 2024, which was the day of the alleged harassment, and that the he did not order that the branch chairman should be threatened or harassed; although he agreed that the university sought the help of security agents to man the gate of the university and prevented the SSANU members from shutting it, but the vice chancellor had no physical interaction with any security agents.
“The university is created by law and the university has its own autonomy; the law will take its course, and the union will strive.
“Those who are non-members of the unions must not be forced to follow their policies. They are directing everyone, and directing where should be locked. The university is making an effort to ensure that there is no clash between non Union members and the members,” he added.
Speaking on the seven days strike called by the national body of the union to make the federal government pay withheld 2022 salaries, he said that FUOYE’s management do not have the authority to pay the outstanding salaries but the federal government, revealing that “the strike commenced yesterday and it was peaceful in many universities in Nigeria.
“In Ekiti here, out of the three universities, FUOYE is the only university occupied on the directive of Mr. Aguda announced on the radio. The strike was not observed at all in the other universities.
“Members of SSANU and NASU in EKSU did not join the strike. Yet a member of staff of EKSU had the temerity to orchestrate crises in FUOYE.”
In this regard, the management called on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to approve the payment of the outstanding four months salaries in 2022.
He, however, commended the president on the salaries that have been paid so far.
The university also threatened legal actions against the peace of the institution. “We condemn the locking of our gate, our gate should not be locked and locking of the gate is not national. It is like a prepared war against FUOYE, we have had enough and our responses will be within the law,” he said.
